Dartmouth dog park group declines to meet with New Bedford committee

NEW BEDFORD — City officials said they still believe a regional dog park could work despite the Dartmouth Dog Advisory Work Group rejecting their invitation to meet Thursday night.

MATT CAMARA

NEW BEDFORD — City officials said they still believe a regional dog park could work despite the Dartmouth Dog Advisory Work Group rejecting their invitation to meet Thursday night.

"We might have money and services they don't ... (and) we don't have as much land as Dartmouth does," said Ward 5 City Councilor Jane Gonsalves, who chairs the committee tasked with establishing a dog park in New Bedford.

DDAWG chairman Rick Oliveira did not immediately return a phone call and email Thursday night asking why his group declined to meet with the committee. A brief email sent to the New Bedford committee said only that the group would not attend; it also included a statement citing the group's commitment to building a dog park "open to all members of the community."

Gonsalves and Ward 6 City Councilor Joe Lopes proposed that New Bedford open a dialogue with DDAWG — which is a nonprofit organization and not a town committee — about the possibility of New Bedford residents using Dartmouth's proposed dog park off Old Fall River Road.

Gonsalves emphasized that an agreement with Dartmouth could be done alongside creating a dog park in New Bedford.

DDAWG received approval to use a 12-acre portion of the Dartmouth Regional Park & Trails complex off Old Fall River Road for the proposed dog park in 2011.

There is no completion date for the Dartmouth park yet due to a lack of funds, said New Bedford committee member Janice Rogers, who is also in DDAWG.

"There's people (at DDAWG) interested and they want to listen," Rogers said. "They don't want to get together unless it's where they are."

Gonsalves said that if the Dartmouth group wanted to meet on its own turf, her committee would send someone to talk to them.

Lopes said he would be willing to meet with the group, as well, adding that a regional dog park would spread the cost between municipalities.

Other members agreed that the committee would reach out to DDAWG in the near future.

"It's better than not having any dog park," said committee member Elaine Gerber.